Church plans memorial service for homeless man

MEBANE – Steve Buntin was a homeless man who lived in his aged blue Chevrolet van.

Many people around Mebane recognized Buntin by sight, but few knew his first name, much less his last. Buntin was in a traffic accident on N.C. 119 in December and suffered a fractured pelvis.

He was treated at Alamance Regional Medical Center and later transferred to a rehabilitation center in Greensboro. He died there Jan. 1.

At 2 p.m. Saturday, members of Hawfields Presbyterian and others from throughout the community will hold a memorial service in Buntin’s honor at the church. Those who knew Buntin will have an opportunity to share their memories of him. A blessing for him and his rest will be shared.

Participants will top it off with punch and cookies in the church fellowship hall.

“We just felt compelled to do something,” said the Rev. David Ealy, the pastor at Hawfields Presbyterian. “Since news of Steve’s death has spread, I can’t tell you the number of people who’ve said, ‘Really? That’s sad.’ ”

Ealy said he knew as much about Buntin as anyone, and he admits he didn’t know a lot. Buntin was a private man who spent many days in his van parked in the church parking lot. He also drove to Walmart and other stores throughout the community.

He wasn’t a bother, those who knew him said, just kept mostly to himself.

“He was a real nice man,” said Cletus Kincaid, an employee of Arrowhead BP on Mebane Oaks Road.

Kincaid said Buntin visited the store often – stopping for gas and occasionally to have his van repaired. He’d carry on a conversation, Kincaid said, if he was in the mood.

“He knew what he was talking about,” Kincaid said.

Ealy said Buntin was a diabetic who walked slowly with the aid of a cane. Ealy estimated Buntin’s age as his late 60s, though he admitted it was difficult to say. Buntin usually sported a stubble of whiskers several days in the making. He wore a long-sleeved shirt, khaki pants and black-rimmed glasses that looked almost to be military issue.

Ealy said in what little Buntin shared with him, he made reference to having served in the military.

“I gathered it was Vietnam, but I never knew for sure,” Ealy said.

He said church members and others would often bring Buntin food. Sometimes he’d accept and other times he wouldn’t, telling the good Samaritans he was full and didn’t need any food.

“He could be gruff, that made it difficult to reach out to him,” Ealy said.

A few worked to find Buntin a more permanent place to reside.

“I’m not sure he’d have taken it even if it’d been offered,” Ealy said.

Exactly how long Buntin had been parking in the church parking lot, that’s difficult to say. Ealy has served as pastor at Hawfields for more than two years and said Buntin was a regular long before he arrived. Longtime members of the congregation said Buntin had been parking there at least five years.

Why’d he choose Hawfields?

“We just didn’t say no,” Ealy said.

Buntin spent most nights at other locales – often forced to move from one place to another by those not so abiding of his ways.

“Sometimes he was allowed to stay and sometimes he wasn’t,” is how Ealy put it.

He said he spoke about Buntin in at least one sermon to his congregation. There were some who didn’t appreciate the homeless man parking at the church at the intersection of N.C. 119 and Trollingwood-Hawfields Road.

“What if you learned he was a vet?” Ealy asked his congregation. “What if you learned that van was all he had left after an accident?”

Ealy said Buntin was, in fact, very intelligent – well-versed in both politics and religion. He often listened to NPR while sitting in his van.

“One of the last times I spoke to him he was complaining about Obama,” Ealy said, chuckling at the memory.

He said sometime last fall he saw an ambulance in the church parking lot, the EMTs assisting Buntin. Ealy said Buntin had called 911 himself after having trouble getting back in his van.

Ealy said it wasn’t until that day he knew Buntin’s last name. He said he told the homeless man he needed to know his name in the event something more serious happened to him.

Ealy said he was glad he knew the name after Buntin’s traffic accident. He visited him during his stay at Alamance Regional.

But Ealy said he had a hard time finding where Buntin was transferred after leaving the hospital. Ealy wasn’t his next of kin and hospital personnel were reluctant to tell even a minister where Buntin had gone.

Ealy said he learned after much effort that Buntin had been transferred to Guilford Healthcare Center in Greensboro. When Ealy contacted the facility on Jan. 8, he was told Buntin had died a week earlier.

Ealy said he was initially saddened that Buntin was gone and had died in a strange place. But he said he later comforted himself with the thought that Buntin was at least warm and well fed, and surrounded by those looking to help him.

Ealy said church members have tried with no success to get in touch with Buntin’s family. There were rumors, he said, that Buntin came from Durham and may still have family there. If so, Ealy said, they’d love to have them attend Saturday’s service. The church’s phone number is 336-578-2811.

“We’re planning an about 50 people,” Ealy said of anticipated turnout for the service. “Given everyone who knew him, we may have a hundred. If there’s less, that’s OK, too.”